Nouns often need a word called an article or determiner (like the or that). These words usually do not go with other kinds of words like verbs or adverbs. (For example, people do not say "I will the go to school" because go is a verb.) Adjectives can also describe nouns. In English, there are more nouns than any other kind of word.

Every language in the world has nouns, but they are not always used in the same ways. They also can have different properties in different languages. For example, in some other languages, nouns do not change for singular and plural, and sometimes there is no word for the.

Nouns can sometimes describe other nouns (such as a soccer ball). When they do this, they are called modifiers or adjuncts.

There are also verb forms that can be used in the same way as nouns (such as 'I like running.) These are called verbals or verbal nouns, and include participles (which can also be adjectives) and infinitives.

Nouns are ordered into common nouns, and proper nouns. There are also pronouns. These have commonly been considered a different part of speech from nouns, but in the past some grammars have included them as nouns[1] as do many modern linguists.[2]

Proper nouns begin with an upper case (capital) letter in English and many other languages that use the Roman alphabet. (However, in German, all nouns begin with an upper case letter.) The word "I" is really a pronoun, although it is capitalized in English, like a proper noun.

Some common nouns (see below) can also be used as proper nouns. For example, someone might be named 'Tiger Smith' -- even though he is not a tiger or a smith.

In English and many other languages, nouns have 'number'. But some nouns are only singular (such as furniture, physics) and others are only plural (such as clothes, police). Also, some nouns are 'countable' (they can be counted, for example, one piece, two pieces) but others are not (for example, we do not say one furniture, two furnitures).

Nouns are words for things, and since things can be possessed, nouns can also change to show possession in grammar. In English, we usually add an apostrophe and an s to nouns to make them possessive, or sometimes just an apostrophe when there is already an s at the end, like this:

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.

more than one snake = snakes

more than one ski = skis

more than one Barrymore = Barrymores

Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."

There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called mutated (or mutating) plurals.

more than one child = children

more than one woman = women

more than one man = men

more than one person = people

more than one goose = geese

more than one mouse = mice

more than one barracks = barracks

more than one deer = deer

And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and alumni, below.)